Charlotte messenger. [volume] (Charlotte, Mecklenburg Co., N.C.) 1882-18??, 1887-08-06
THE. REV. DR.. TALMAGE,
THE LYNDIvINE's SUNDAY
SERMON.

TEXT: The time of my departure Is al
hGnd.-II. Timothy w., G.
The way out of this world is SO blocked up
with coffin and hearse, and undertakers
spade and screwdriver, that the Christian can
hardly think as he ought of the most cheerful
passage in all his history. We hang black
instead of white over the place where the
good man gets his last victory. We stand
weeping over heap of chains which the freed
soul has shaken off, and we say; "Poor
mani What a pity it was he had to come
TO thisl" Come to what! By the time
the people have assembled at the obsequies
the man has been three days so happy
that all the joy of earth accumulated
would be wretchedness beside it, and he
might better weep over you because you
have to stay, than you weep over him be-
cause he has to go. 1t is a fortunate
thing that a good man does not have to wait
10 see his own obsequies, they would be so
.liscordant with his own experience. II the
lsraelites should so back to Egypt and mourn
over the brick kilns they once left, they would
not be any more silly than that Christian
who should forsake heaven and come down
and mourn because he had to leave this
world Our ideas of the Christians death
are morbid and sickly. We look upon it as
dark hole, in which man stumbles when his
breath gives out. This whole subject is odor-
Gus with varnish and disinfectants, instead of
being sweet with mignonette. Paul, in my
text takes that great clod of a word, "death,n
and throws it away, and speaks of his de
parturen-a beautiful, bright, suggestive
word, descriptive Of every Christians re-
lease.
Now, departure implies a starting place
and place of destination. When Paul left
this world what was the starting points 1t
was scene of great physical distress. 1t was
the Tuilianum, the lower dungeon of the
Mamertine prison. The top dungeon was
bad enough, it having no means of ingress or
cgresS but through an opening in the top.
Through that the prisoner was lowered, aud
through that came all the food and air and
light received 1t was terrible place, that
upper dungeon; but the Tullianum was
the lower dungeon, and that was still
more wrctched, the only light and the
only air coming through the roof, and that
roof the floor of the upper dungeon. That
was Paul's last earthly residence 1t was a
dungeon Just six feet and half high. 1t was
Il doleful place. 1t had the chill of long
centuries OF dampness. 1t was filthy with the
long Incarceration of miserable wretcheS Il
was there that Paul spent his last days on
earth, and it is there that l see him to-day,
in the fearful dungeon, shivering, blue with
the cold, waiting for that old overcoat which
he had sent for up to Troas, and which they
had not yet sent down, notwithstanding he
had written for it
III some skilful surgeon should go into that
dungeon where Paul is incarcerated, we might
find out what are the prospects of Paul's liv-
ing through the rough Imprisonment In the
first place, he is an old man, only two wears
short of seventy. At that very time when he
most needs the warmth and the sunlight, ard
the fresh air, he is shut out from the sun.
What are those scars on his ankles! Why,
those were gotten when he was fast, his feet
in the stocks. Every time he turned, the
flesh on mis- ankles started. What are
hfNcn IN nc haA1
was whipped five times, each time getting
thirty-nine strokes-195 bruises on the
back count themD made by the Jews with
rods of elmwoOd, each one of the 1876 strokes
bringing the blood. Look at Paul's face and
look at his arms. Where did he get those
bruisess think it was when he was strug-
Cling ashore amidst the shivered timbers Of
the shipwreck. l see a cash in Pauls side.
Where did he get thatl / think he got that
in the tussel with highwaymen for he had
been in peril of robbers and he had money of
his own. He was mechanic as well as an
apostle, and think the tents he made were
as good as his sermons
There was a wanness about Paul's looks.
What makes that! l think part of that
came from the fact that he was for
twenty-four hours on a plank in the
Mediterranean sea, suffering terribly, be-
Tore he was rescued; for he says posi-
lively: II was night and day in the
deep" Oh, worn out, emaciated old
man! surely you must be melancholy.
No constitution could endure this and Be
cheerful. But press my way through the
prison until come up close to where he is,
and by the faint light that streams through
the opening / see on his face a supernatural
JOY, and l bow before him, and / saw:
aged man, how can you keep cheerful
the darkness of the place as he
cries out: ~ am now ready to be
offered, and the time of my departure is at
hand" Harkl what is that shutting of feet
IN the upper dungeonl Why, Paul has an
invitation to banquet, and he is going to
dine today with the king. Those
shuiilng feet are the feet of the execu-
TONERS: They. come, and they cry down
through the hole of the dungeron: ''HurTy
up, old man. Come now; get yourself
ready" Why, Paul was ready. He had
nothing to pack up. He had no baggage to
take: He had been ready good while l
zee HIM rising up, and Strengthening out
his stiifened limbs. and pushing back his
white hair from his crevfced forehead, and
l see him looking up through the hole in the
roof of the dungeon into the face of his
execution and hear him say: ~ am
now ready to be offered, at the time of
my departure is at hand" Then they lift
him out of the dungeon, and they start
with him to the place of execution. They
say: Hurry along, old man, or you will
feel the weight Of our spear Hurry
along" "How far is it,n says Paul, 1--WE
have to travelF' "Three miles" Three
miles is good way for an old
man to travel after he has beer
whipped and crippled with mall
treatment. But they soon get to the place
OF OBSERVATION-DISCLOSURES Talvia-and he is
fastened 10 the pillar of martyrdom 1t
doesnot take any strength to tie him fast.
He makes no resistance. o PAUL. why
not strike for your lifei You have great
many friends here. With that withered
band just launch the thunderbolt Of the peo-
pie upon those infamous soldiers Mo- Paul
was not going to interfere with his own coro-
nation. He was too glad to go. / see him
looking up into the face of his executioner,
and, as the grim official draws the sword,
Paul calmly says: ~ am now ready 10 be
offered. and the time of my departure is
at hand But ! put my hand over my
eyes. ! want not 10 see that last struggle.
One sharp, keen stroke, and Paul does 90 TO
the banquet and Paul does dine with the
King
What n transition it wasl From the
Inalaria of Rome 10 the finest climate i'm
all the universe-the zone Of eternal
beauty and health. His ashes were nut
in the catacombs Of Rome, but in one
Inoment the air of heaven bathed from
bis soul the last ache. From shipwreck.
Arnn